‘Traders push for VAT will never succeed’

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 1: MP Saleh Ziab Al-Mutairi submitted a bill to amend Children and Women’s Rights Law No. 21/2015 in order to grant female Kuwaiti public sector employees who are taking care of their children two hours off to carry out their maternal duties; such that they report for work from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm without salary deduction. He affirmed the bill is based on the Constitution that states the family is the basic unit of society and its rights must be protected.

MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji has proposed naming playgrounds and entrances at Jaber Al- Ahmad Stadium after the Kuwaiti athletes with remarkable achievements -- those who won medals in group or individual sports. He said the Ministry of Education and Public Authority for Sports should specify the criteria and requirements for choosing these athletes, adding their short biographies will be displayed in public sports facilities.

MP Hesham Al-Saleh submitted a proposal for the Ministry of Public Works to receive the plots ready for construction in blocks one and two in Khaitan from the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), and then distribute them to the housing grant beneficiaries. He explained the proposal aims to save time, instead of waiting for the entire area to be free from rubble.

MP Hamad Rouhaldeen has proposed exempting beneficiaries of housing plots in Khaitan from paying KD15,000 for the plot and then require them to shoulder the cost for the removal of debris. In a related development, Rouhaldeen asked Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Information Technology Affairs Rana Al-Fares why the PAHW has yet to receive the housing project site in Khaitan. He wants to know the reason behind such delay, steps taken against whoever caused the delay, when did PAHW find that the site contains rubbles, measures taken in this regard, expected date of implementing the debris removal plan if any, cost of removing the debris, and if PAHW conducted a study on requiring the beneficiaries to remove the debris on their own expense.

MP Marzouq Al-Khalifa forwarded queries to Minister of Oil and Higher Education Dr Muhammad Al- Fares about the delayed implementation of the project of Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC) and Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) for the exploration of gas and oil in Gulf waters. He disclosed the tender was awarded to Schlumberger Company which offered the lowest price -- KD140 million; but KNPC cancelled it later and then replaced Schlumberger with the company that offered the second lowest price -- KD40 million higher than the offer of Schlumberger. He said the project was supposed to start on June 1, 2019 but nothing has been done till date. He wants to know the negative effects of such delay on the national oil and gas reserves.

Meanwhile, MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari said the attempts of traders to push for the implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) will never succeed, indicating these traders are trying to mislead the citizens by claiming that the implementation of VAT will not affect them negatively even if this is an indirect tax that will be added to the prices of most commodities and services in every stage of production and circulation. He warned this will lead to price hikes, asserting the citizens are fully aware of such misleading statements issued by opportunists.

Furthermore, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim sent a cable to greet President of the National Assembly of Central Africa Simplice Sarandji on the National Day of his country. Al-Ghanim sent a similar cable to Speaker of the Federal National Council in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Saqr Ghobash Saeed Al-Merri on the 50th National Day of the UAE. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff